Life With Tabitha

Ramblings about Christmas

2012-01-04T20:44:00.013-05:00

OK, I've been a slacker, AGAIN! Sorry, I've been really busy, I took a new job with another home health agency and I now do the work that it used to take 3 people to do at my old company.....at least this company pays me well! BUT, with me working so much, I am exhausted when I get home and I don't seem to find the time to write anything on Tabitha's blog. I'll try to do better!
Christmas was really nice this year. Tabitha was really into it. Everyday she'd ask me, "Mommy, how many days 'til Christmas? Then she'd ask as she had every other day, the sequencing of how many days were left..."so there's 2 weeks left 'til Christmas today?....then tomorrow there will be 1 week left?" Every morning I'd have to go through the SAME questions over and over! It was cute though, and she was SO excited when she got up and saw what Santa had brought.
Santa was good to me too, he brought me a new washer and drier. Yes, I know, some of you may wonder HOW a machine that requires you to do some work would be a nice thing. I've always sort of had a little envy of people who had those front loader machines that are really popular now---until I started to think about. What happens if you forgot to put something in the washer and you started it...you can't just open up a front loader and add something, water would get all over the floor. So, I decided on the big Bravo XL by Maytag. It's a high efficiency machine so it's sort of like a front loader, but it loads on top. It uses a third of the water that my old machine used and it it super quiet when it runs. I love it so far! The drier has a steam option...I still have to read the book on how to use that option! Santa also left some pretty jewelry for me too!
Tabi got exactly what she asked Santa for: Barbie and Ken, a Toy Story 3 toy--the landfill, and a trampoline. She got some other things too, LuLu a Furreal cat that meows, moves it's head and purrs. Christmas morning it was meowing in it's box and Daddy had Tabitha convinced that a cat had crawled down the chimney during the night and was hiding in the Christmas tree!
So enough of this rambling. Here's some pictures of Tabi on Christmas morning...you don't fool me, I know you all just look at my blog to see the pictures!

looks like a wrapping paper explosion!

dressed for church

Favorite Foto Friday #128 "Fall"???

2011-10-14T15:16:00.000-04:00

The theme for this week may be fall, but it feels more like spring around here! I'm going off the theme path this week and want to share what Tabi did last Saturday.
Tabitha has been bugging me for quite some time to get her haircut. I'm not sure why since she used to say she wanted to be Repuzel. I kept putting her off because I wasn't sure if she was serious or just wanting something because someone in her class has short hair. But, she persisted. So, we had to convince Daddy. He was not an easy one to convince, but we finally did when we told him that Tabi wanted to donate her hair to "Locks of Love".
We had some lunch then went to the hair salon. We went to Sharkey's Hair Salon for kids and were pleasantly surprized when they said that the cut was free because Tabi was donating her hair! Kudos to Sharkey's!

Have a great weekend! Check out more here:

Favorite Foto Friday #127 October

2011-10-07T06:18:00.008-04:00

Wow! October! I haven't done a favorite foto Friday since May!! Yes, we've been busy, but not that busy; I've just been lazy. To me, nothing says fall and October more than apple picking and pumpkin patches. Tabi actually requested that we go apple picking last weekend. I'm not sure where she heard about apple picking because we've never been before...it could have been at school or in a book, I'm not sure. At any rate I mentioned it to her BFF Z's mom and she too, thought it sounded like a fun outing for the kids. Apple orchards were easy to come by when I lived in the midwest, not so easy here in South Carolina. We had to drive about and hour and half away up toward the upstate of South Carolina where there are mountains. It was a crisp Saturday morning, one that made me think of being back in the midwest. You have to understand that "crisp" and South Carolina weather don't usually go together in the same sentence! It's hot here from April until November. But, we were blessed with a BEAUTIFUL autumn day and we all had a blast!

Have a great weekend! Be sure to check out other favorite Friday posts over here:

Myrtle Beach: Alligator Adventure

2011-10-03T19:45:00.011-04:00

We decided to wait until end of summer/fall to go to Myrtle Beach this year. So we went the 23rd of September for a long weekend. We actually got a good deal from the timeshare people that we own a timeshare with. They gave us an excellent price for a 4 day, 3 night package, but the sweet part of the deal was....if we brought another couple with us, we'd get reimbursed what we paid! 4 days, 3 nights in a 2 bedroom 2 bath villa for nothing; I think that's pretty good. Of course we had to "talk" to the service guy in "sales" to see how we could "improve" our timeshare. An hour and a half with "Joe"... small price, to get our vacation for free. I wish that the weather could have cooperated a little better. It rained, poured is more like it, all the way from Columbia to Myrtle Beach on Friday. Saturday started out alright, we got up and all of us went to Barefoot Landing to the Alligator Adventure. Tabi, Tim and I had been there last year and my friend Debbie thought it sounded neat so we went again this year. It was so much fun. They fed the alligators and the big crocodile while we were there. I'll let you be the judge from the pictures as to whether or not it is a neat place.

Tabi wasn't too sure about sitting on the alligator

"Feeding time"

Summer 2011 recap Part 3...Anniversary Celebration in Charleston

2011-10-01T19:29:00.009-04:00

Tim and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary this year. We decided that we'd celebrate by the three of us--Tabi, Tim, and I taking a long weekend and going to Charleston. There's so much history in Charleston and a ton of things to do.
We started the weekend out by going to the aquarium. It is an aquarium that showcases the kind of fish that you would find in the rivers, lakes, and along the shores of South Carolina.

We then had lunch at one of the many restaurants

Walked through the markets--amazingly I didn't buy anything!

We then went on a horse drawn carriage tour

And that was just the first day! I'll not bore you with pictures from the next day---Tim got to do what he wanted to do---genealogical stuff at the cemetery!

Summer 2011 recap Part 2

2011-09-30T21:09:00.005-04:00

July brought fireworks, and Tim's birthday. I unfortunately did not take pictures of the fireworks except with my cell phone. I do not know how to post picture from it! We kept it low key for Tim's birthday. It was just the four of us.

Toward the end of July we were involved in Bible school. The theme this year was "Beach Blast". And....Tabi had a blast! Her BFF Zach came this year and Tabi was in seventh heaven.

Summer 2011 recap Part 1... Family Visit in Tennessee

2011-09-30T06:19:00.008-04:00

Wow, where does the time go? Tomorrow is October 1st, how did that happen? I realize that I haven't posted anything here since May! It's not like we've been too busy for me to post, I've just been lazy. I'll try to give a recap of the summer here for you.
In May, we made a trip to Tennesee for Tabi's sister-in-law's graduation from UT.

Sorry about the picture quality...

We enjoyed spending time with the family. That's Tim, Me holding Tabi, Chris with the beard, Julia the graduate and Tabi's niece and nephews.

And while I'm not a huge fan of driving/riding in the mountains, I must say that they are beautiful to look at.

Favorite Foto Friday #126 "Flowers, Fairies or Dinosaurs"

2011-05-06T00:00:00.000-04:00

This week the theme for Favorite Foto Friday is flowers, fairies, or dinosaurs....so since Tabi's not really into dinosaurs that left flowers or fairies.....

I went with flowers! This picture is from Easter Sunday. I love it and hope you do too!

And check out these flowers, they are all from our yard! Aren't they gorgeous?!

Go over to Nora's blog and check out all of the other Favorite Foto Friday entries. Click on the badge below to get there! Have a great weekend!

Sunday is Mother's Day, I just want to wish all of my blogger Mom friends HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!

Easter Sunday 2011

2011-05-04T21:31:00.003-04:00

Easter Sunday was late this year, April 24th! We had beautiful weather for the holiday. It was a quiet holiday, only Tabi, Tim, my mom and myself. We went to church, and then spent the afternoon at home relaxing.
Here are a few pictures of Tabi, Tim and I from the day in our Sunday finest!

Dying Easter Eggs

2011-05-03T00:00:00.000-04:00

Tabi got into dying eggs this year much more. I love this age, because she is really into doing things like that.

Here she is waiting for me to get everything set up, obviously it was very facinating...not!

Turning the eggs so the color will be uniform all the way around the egg

This year I bought a "glitter-egg" kit....adding glitter to the eggs

Egg Hunt--First Baptist Irmo

2011-05-02T00:00:00.001-04:00

We had an egg hunt at church on the Saturday before Easter. Tim is in charge of the Children's Ministry and had hoped for a better turn out than what we had. We had a ton of eggs for the kids to find (not sure how many I didn't count them, but I know that it was a lot because Tim and I stuffed all of them!) We had a puppet show with the telling of the Easter story prior to the actual "hunt" as well as juice and doughnuts. Maybe next year we can get a little more publicity and more kids and their parents will show up!

Last of Vacation Photos---finally! Sea World

2011-05-01T20:58:00.007-04:00

I can't believe it has taken me 2 months to get all of the pictures from our vacation posted! What is my problem?! The last of the photos are from Sea World. From a parent's point of view, Sea World was much better for a 4 year old than Disney...gasp, did I really say that? The reason why it was better from a parent's point of view is that the lines for the rides were MUCH shorter, like nonexistant. AND they had more rides for the smaller kids that looked like the big kid rides. Plus they have all of those Sea World animals!

Isn't the color of these flamingos beautiful? They must feed them some high grade shrimp!

And what visit to Sea World would be complete without Shamu?

Disney--Part 2

2011-04-02T08:24:00.006-04:00

I know, I have taken forever to get these vacation pictures posted! I'm sorry, I've really got no excuse except, laziness! So without further ado:

A long waited for hug with Mickey

The electric parade

Fireworks to end the day

Favorite Foto Friday #125 "The Letter A"

2011-04-01T00:00:00.001-04:00

A is for it's about time! Sorry it has taken me so long to get our vacation pictures posted! We waited in line for what seemed like forever, but it was All worth the wait; Tabi got to color, sing, dance and talk with Repunzel and Flynn from Tangled! She was in seventh heaven!

Autograph time

Hop on over to Nora's blog to check out other Favorite Foto Friday pictures by clicking on the badge below. Hope you have a great weekend!

Favorite Foto Friday #124 "You Choose"

2011-03-25T20:43:00.002-04:00

It's Favorite Foto Friday time! This week, Nora has chosen to let us choose the topic. Tabi had her very first visit to the dentist this week. I'm such a procrasinator, and I honestly have been scared to take her! I do not have fond memories of going to the dentist as a child. Things sure have changed since I was a kid! It was actually FUN for her! The dentist's office is decorated in an African theme. It was really neat, they had glass tiles for part of the floor and you could look down into the hippo's exhibit! Tabi behaved like a little lady at the dentist. They cleaned her teeth and took x-rays. UNFORTUNATELY, she has 4 cavities!!!! Bad Mommy, is how I feel because the dentist said that the cavities were between molars on both sides of her mouth; they were where the toothbrush can't reach. I admit, I have not been diligent with her. Yes, we brush, but we don't always floss! Shame on me! I promise, I'll try to do better! :)

Hope you all have a great weekend! Be sure and go over to Nora's blog and check out other Favorite Foto Friday entries! Click on the badge below!

Vacation Part 3---DISNEY!!!! (part 1)

2011-03-23T06:29:00.014-04:00

We decided last year that we were going to take Tabi to Disney World this year. She's been anxiously awaiting for the day and the day finally came! What did we learn? We learned that Disney World is HUGE and that 2 50+ aged parents get tired A LOT faster that we used to! But it was all worth the painful feet, back, knees

and the waiting in line (forever it seemed)

to see the smile on Tabitha's face! Here are some pictures to highlight the day!

A photo with Daisy Duck....amazingly T wasn't afraid of her!

One of the parades

The Teacup ride...the only ride Mom (me) would ride!

Daddy got to do the fun stuff!..."Flying Dumbo Ride"

Carousel

Meeting Peter Pan

Stay tuned for the big event of the day! (Well of our day at Disney!)

Favorite Foto Friday #123 " Las cosas nuevas aprendidas (New Things Learned)"

2011-03-18T00:00:00.003-04:00

I haven't been very regular with my Favorite Foto Friday participation lately, but this week I have the perfect little video for this week's theme (providing I can get it to upload!) Santa brought Tabi a new bicycle for Christmas. I was amazed that she had asked him for one because she hadn't mentioned it to her Daddy or me at all! But thankfully, Santa got her what she asked for! The weather wasn't bicycle riding weather at Christmas so finally there was a break in the weather and we headed outdoors. She'd been riding "loops" in the house in the mean time. I was actually amazed at how quickly she learned to ride it, since it seemed to have taken her 'forever' to learn to ride her tricycle! Well, I'm not seeming to be able to upload the video Sorry! Here is a cute picture of that "learning" moment! Have a great weekend! Check back later I may eventually figure out this video stuff! Check out what other new things are learned over at Nora's blog!
Hark! I think I figured out the video thing!!!

Vacation Part 2---Orlando, Florida

2011-03-17T19:09:00.007-04:00

After touring the Fountain of Youth and Fort Castillo de Marco, we headed to Orlando. Check in for our condo was to be at 3 p.m. Check in went relatively smooth, except the clerk only gave us the building number of the condo and not the actual condo number. We found out later that is to keep people from going to their condos earlier. You are suppose to wait until they call your cell phone and give your the "okay" that it is clean and ready to go that they give you the exact unit number that you will be staying in. We booked this vacation over a year ago, it was through our timeshare with the agreement that we would sit through their "sales presentation". We've done that before and don't really have a problem with it because it gets us a nice place to stay relatively cheap. Most of the time we just tell them "no thank-you". This time however, we chose to "upgrade" our timeshare. We transferred our "ownership" to Florida from Myrtle Beach because there is so much to do down there. We also had our "week" moved from the 2nd week in December to the 2nd week in May. We'll reconsider that week option when Tabi is a couple of years older and in school. I had read mixed reviews about the resort that our timeshare is now at and didn't really know what to expect; let me say that we loved it! The unit was beautiful, it has 7 pools, several golf courses and backs up to Disney World so we saw the fireworks from Magic Kingdom every night! Tabi loved the fact that she had her very own bedroom and bathroom!

Pool fun!

Pretty flowers outside of the condo

More pool fun!

Tomorrow we're off to Disney! Look out Mickey and Minnie, here we come!

Vacation: Part 1--- St. Augustine, Florida

2011-03-13T22:07:00.018-04:00

Yikes, I've let yet another month go by without making one single post! Yes, I've been busy, but actually the truth is I haven't even thought about posting! I've posted plenty of pictures to my Facebook page, but haven't taken the time or even thought about what to post on here! I guess I'll start by playing a little catch up!
At the end of February, we took a much over due vacation. We usually don't do our big vacation until May and go to Myrtle Beach, but we decided last year, that we would take Tabi to Disney this year. After all, she's 4 now and can appreciate Disney. So, we set off for Florida on a Sunday after morning church services. We live about a 7 hour car drive from Orlando, but decided to stop in St. Augustine, Florida and spend the night. Tim is a history lover (was a history major and now works in a museum), and honestly I'm starting to enjoy it too! Besides, St. Augustine is on the ocean, Orlando isn't, and I'm one who thinks that no vacation is complete without a trip to the beach!

St. Augustine is known for Ponce de Leon, the explorer, and The Fountain of Youth. There is a spring on the grounds at the Fountain of Youth, and they give you a sample of the water. First thing I noticed was it smelled like rotten eggs. The taste wasn't much better! My comment to the tour guide, was "uh, it's very sulphery"....Tabi was much more direct: "Mommy, I don't like it! It tastes yukky!"

Fountain of Youth

Next we went to the Fort Castillo de San Marcos. I had no clue about this, of course 'Historian Tim' did! Read about it here.

Fort Castillo de San Marcos

Favorite Foto Friday #122 "Hugs"

2011-02-04T22:10:00.001-05:00

Today the theme for Favorite Foto Friday is "Hugs". I'm really sorry, but I haven't taken any pictures of hugging in a long, long, time. I'm going to have to put that on my list of things to try to get photos of! I do have some really cute pictures of Tabi though on last Sunday, a really nice day that we had and it was January! Here is one that I love, it captures that beautiful smile of her's and makes me want to just grab her and hug her to death!

Hope you all have a great weekend! Go over to Nora's and see other Favorite Friday Fotos! Just click on the badge below!

A warm day in January!

2011-01-30T15:05:00.005-05:00

FINALLY!!! Warm weather in January! One of the primary reasons for moving to South Carolina from Illinois was the weather. We were tired of snow, ice, and cold weather (not to mention this is where Tim found a job)! BUT, this winter has been far from warm here. It has snowed twice, that's unthinkable here! And, it's been down right cold! This weekend however it is great! 65 degrees yesterday, 70 today, now this is more like it!

Finally she's able to ride her Christmas present somewhere besides in the house!

My little fashionista!

Favorite Foto Friday #121

2011-01-28T22:26:00.009-05:00

Oops! I almost missed Favorite Foto Friday and today's theme is "You Pick". I've chosen today to post pictures from Tabitha's 4th birthday. It's hard to believe that she is already 4! How did that happen. She turned 4 a couple of weeks ago, but I've been a slacker and haven't posted anything! She got "exactly what she wanted"....a bouncy house! We set it up in the front room for a few days so that she could play on it and it has now been put in a tote waiting for Spring and warm weather so that it can be set up outside.

Be sure to go over to Nora's blog and check out the other Favorite Friday Fotos!

FFF # 120 "Hibernation"

2011-01-14T00:01:00.001-05:00

OK, so I'm cheating a little, but hey when you are a working mom, over 50, and have a 3 soon to be 4 (tomorrow) year old, you cut corners whenever you can! This week the theme for Favorite Foto Friday is "Hibernation". How fitting since that is exactly what we did this past Monday and Tuesday. We've been in South Carolina 6 years now, one of the deciding factors when Tim was looking for a job post graduate degree was it had to be someplace warmer than where we currently were living in Southern Illinois. Monday and Tuesday were both declared "snow days" for Tim, Tabi and me. Everything basically came to a screeching halt on Monday....my sister-in-law called us a bunch of woosies! I say, when in the south, become a southerner! So we stayed inside where it was (thankfully) nice and toasty!
Check out my post from earlier this week for fun pictures of Tabi and the snow.

Nora is now our hostess of Favorite Foto Friday, stop by and leave her some love and check out all of the other Favorite Foto Friday participants!

Snow!

2011-01-11T21:10:00.008-05:00

We've actually been home from work these past two days due to inclimate weather. We got about 6 inches of snow early Monday morning (wee hours) and then about a half inch or so of ice on top of the snow. Snow doesn't really phase me normally, except that we live in South Carolina. When I looked out of the window and listened to the weather reports Monday morning it resembled Illinois where we used to live, more than South Carolina! I don't mind driving in snow, but thought I should stay indoors since most South Carolinians have trouble driving in rain! Tabi has been off from daycare of course the past two days with us. She had a good time out with Dad building a snowman and having a snowball fight with Tim.

My little angel attempting to make a snow angel, however, there was ice on top of the snow and she kept sliding around!

"Frosty"

Making a snowball to throw at Dad!--note it's size!

Chasing down Dad!

New Year's Resolutions

2011-01-03T06:08:00.004-05:00

It's hard to believe that it is 2011! I've never been one to make many New Year's resolutions basically because I never can keep them! There are a lot of changes happening with us though that were not really my choice or doings. The biggest one is with my job. I was told on the last day that I worked in 2010, that my department was being disbanded and essentially my job was being phased out! They said that they had jobs for us all but were not able to give us many details as those had not been ironed out. Not very encouraging for the likes of us! BUT, as I have been reminded, ....when God closes a door, He opens a window. My dear husband has been pushing me to find a different job (for a long while) because I bring home a good deal of my work and don't have as much time as I should for our family. I have neglected him, Tabi, my mother, and most importantly, my relationship with God. SO, I'm resolve that this year I will spend more time in God's Word, more time taking care of Tim, my mother, Tabi, and myself. I also resolve to get back to what this blog was originally intended to be...a journal of life at the Taylor's, a scrapbook so to say of "Life with Tabitha".
Here's some of the holiday happening to share:

Tabi decided this year that she wanted to sit on Santa's lap. We'd been to the mall to do a little Christmas shopping and we asked Tabi if she wanted to see Santa. At first she was like, NO!, but I happened to see that Santa had taken off his glasses to clean them and said to her, "he doesn't have glasses on"....(for some reason she also said that she didn't like Santa's glasses) and suddenly Tabi was like, Yes! I want to see Santa! I couldn't believe that there was no line! So, Tabi climbed right up on his lap and smiled beautifully for the camera....priceless!

Hannah is not doing Favorite Foto Friday's anymore, but we will have Nora being the new hostess. I hope that everyone, (and more) will participate!

Happy New Year everyone!

Favorite Foto Friday #119 "Christmas Card Outtakes"

2010-12-17T21:37:00.001-05:00

OK, so I haven't exactly been the best blogger as of late. I've been more like a blog stalker than a blogger. I just never seem to have time for it anymore. But when I saw that the theme this week's Favorite Foto Friday is Christmas card outtakes, I had to put something together, although it be late.
I don't really do photo Christmas cards per se, but I do take some photos at Christmas time to send out to the friends and family. Tabitha has been really good here lately about smiling for photos, which is good because I actually had friends who saw early photos of her when she did not want to cooperate for the camera and wondered if she was happy!
There weren't really that many outtakes this year, but here are a couple.

Hope you all have a great Christmas. Be sure and check out the photos over at Hannah's blog!

Forever Family Day #3

2010-11-13T13:12:00.008-05:00

Wow, it's been 3 years since they handed Tabitha to us forever! It seems like yesterday to me! I can remember anxiously waiting in the hotel lobby for Tabi and her foster mom to come. I was nervous that they would get delayed in traffic and be late or something worse. BUT my fears were soon replaced with joy. She was finally ours, FOREVER. True, we waited 3 more weeks before we obtained her Visa and came back to South Carolina, but today is the day we celebrate; we were FINALLY together forever!

Arriving....

Tabi not too sure about this....

Smiling!

Now...3 years later!

Happy Forever Family Day, Tabitha!

Favorite Foto Friday #118 "Family Fun" aka Fall Fun Fest

2010-11-05T06:08:00.007-04:00

Last Sunday our church had its very first Fall Fun Fest. Tim is in charge of the children's ministries at our church and has been wanting to do something like this for a long time. October is outreach month at our church; what better way to reach out to the community than have a Fall Fun Fest? We are a small church so when Tim asked how much money was in the budget for this, he was told $0.00. All of the monies had to come from donations. Soooo, Tim began reaching out to the members of the church. A committee was formed (what Baptist church function do you know about, doesn't involve a committee?)They met weekly, outlined what events they wanted to do and.....
God made it happen. We had over $1500 received in donations and over 78 new family units signed in at our registration table! God is so good!
Here are some pictures of the event, of course a lot of them have Tabi in them!

Be sure to go over to Hannah's blog by clicking on the badge below and check out other Favorite Friday Fotos, have a great weekend!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-02T06:16:00.013-04:00

Halloween fell on a Sunday this year so activities started on Friday with a party at Tabitha's daycare and then one at one of my co-worker's home. Saturday we went to a "Hallelujah Hoedown" at the church we used to attend when we first brought Tabi home. Even though we don't go to that church anymore, there are a number of people there that we still know and keep in touch with. This year though, the hoedown seemed a little too big for us, so we probably won't be returning there next year.
Then on Sunday our church had a Fun Fall Fest. I'll devote another post to that event! Enjoy the pictures below.

Tabi as a bumble bee for daycare. She won a prize as the cutest costume in her class!

Tabi going down the slide at the Hallelujah Hoedown

Climbing the wall of "The Adrenaline Rush"

The slide of "The Adrenaline Rush"

One of the trunk or treat people had a Wizard of Oz theme, so of coarse our little "Dorothy" had to have her picture taken. Yes, Tabi was Dorothy on Saturday and Sunday, she said that being a bumble bee made her "too hot"!

Tabi and Officer Zach---note how much taller Zach is than Tabi, she's such a petite little peanut!

Favorite Foto Friday #117 U-Pick

2010-10-15T06:23:00.005-04:00

It is Friday, time for Favorite Foto Friday over at Hannah's blog. I started the month with good intentions of doing updates on the blog, taking more pictures of Tabi. I confess, I have failed miserably. Time always seems to slip by a little faster than I realize and before I know it a week, two weeks, a month is gone! Whether or not I have new pictures to post that I have taken during the week before the Favorite Foto Fridays post is just not as important to me as it once was. The fact that we are all together able to be a normal (well, as normal as we can get) is what is important. Who cares if the photos aren't from THAT week!... Make the most from what I have and enjoy every.... single. ... precious.... moment. That is what I am going to do. So, sorry these photos aren't from this week. We were enjoying, living life this past week without a camera!

Tabi being her usual silly self!

Have a great weekend! Be sure to check out the other Favorite Foto Friday blogs over at Hannah's blog by clicking on the badge above!

Favorite Foto Friday #116 "Mommy & Me"

2010-10-08T06:09:00.004-04:00

It's Favorite Foto Friday. Since I missed the whole month of September, I thought that I'd try to do better this month with my blogging. Hannah has chosen "Mommy & Me" as the theme for this week's Favorite Foto Friday theme. I like Hannah, do not like my picture taken; I'd much rather TAKE the pictures. I do however have one recent picture of Tabi and I together. We went to the zoo last Saturday. The weather was absolutely gorgeous! Tabi of course had to do EVERYTHING there was to do at the zoo; the pony ride, the carousel, and the little train. Dad usually does all of those things with her since I want to take the pictures. However, they did convince me to ride the little train. I figured that most of me wouldn't be seen if(and I knew that dear hubby would take pictures) pictures were taken.

If you'd like to see more pictures of our good time at the zoo, check it out here

Be sure and check out other Favorite Friday Fotos by clicking on the badge above. Have a great weekend!

A Day At the Zoo

2010-10-04T22:17:00.001-04:00

The weather was perfect this past Saturday. We enjoyed it by heading down to the Riverbanks Zoo here in Columbia. We had a blast! Hope you enjoy seeing our pictures!

This scrapbook created with Smilebox

Oops how did that happen?

2010-10-01T05:37:00.006-04:00

It is October 1st, oops how did that happen? I missed the entire month of September blogging! To tell you the truth, I haven't been taking many pictures, it's been too hot to do anything! You'd never know that the first day of fall had arrived around here with temperatures still in the 90's. Well fall has finally arrived! It took 2 days of raining --it hadn't rained in over a month so it was quite welcomed!
These pictures though are of the last few days of summer. Tabi loves to ride her tricycle; however, we live in a hilly area and she doesn't have a lot of flat land to ride on and her riding skills on hills aren't that great. So, the neighbor who has a nice flat driveway, let her come ride.

Look at her concentrating on her feet!

Hope you all have a great weekend! Check out some other photos over at Hannah's blog.

Favorite Foto Friday #115 "Fun In the Sun"

2010-08-20T00:00:00.001-04:00

If there is one thing that Tabi has it is an active imagination. She amazes me sometimes with the things that she comes up with! These photos are classic examples of that....aside from the obvious pair of swim goggles, which she is using here as they are meant for...."swimming"....what you may not be able to ascertain is that the little bib that she is wearing is her "swim suit" and the "swimming pool" is a blanket she has spread out in the middle of the family room. I mean, where does she come up with this stuff???
So this is Tabi's version of this week's Favorite Foto Friday. The theme is:"Fun in the Sun"---Hey, it fits!--- it's summer (it probably was sunny outside), she's having fun, and these are DEFINITELY my favorites for the week!

Go on over and check out the other Favorite Friday Fotos at Hannah's blog by clicking on the badge above. Be sure and leave me and her some love too! Hope you all have a great weekend.

Favorite Foto Friday #114 "Black & White"

2010-08-13T00:00:00.001-04:00

This week Hannah's theme for Favorite Foto Friday is "Black & White". I love black and white photos for some reason. When I was a child Tabi's age, black and white is all that we had---it was rare to see color photos. I wish that my skills as a photographer were better and my skill editing was better. But, they are what they are and I am happy that I'm able to capture some of Tabi's youth in pictures. Hope that you enjoy them. Be sure to go over to Hannah's blog and see what others have done for Favorite Foto Friday---just click on the badge above. Have a great weekend!

Where's the time going?

2010-08-07T11:31:00.006-04:00

I can't believe that 2 weeks have gone by since my last blog update! What is wrong with me! Just busy I guess. These are the photos from the close of VBS that I promised. Sorry I'm so behind!

Favorite Foto Friday #113 " U-Pick"

2010-07-23T00:01:00.000-04:00

This week is another U-Pick theme week for Favorite Foto Friday. We've been busy all week with Vacation Bible School. The theme for Bible school this year is "Saddleback Ridge", a country western theme. Tabitha has been enjoying VBS a ton!
I'll post more pictures after the close of VBS on Sunday, here are a few from the first night.

Hope that you all have a great weekend. Go on over to Hannah's blog by clicking on the badge above and check out other Favorite Friday Fotos!

Favorite Foto Friday #112

2010-07-09T06:21:00.005-04:00

Oh my, it is time for Favorite Foto Friday. I am still trying to recover from being back to work after having been off for 6, almost 7 glorious days! I am chosing to continue with the sibling theme. As I mentioned in last Friday's post, Tabi's older sister and her husband were in for a visit. Tabi hadn't seen Amy in over a year, but you would never have known it to watch Tabi and Amy together. Usually Tabi is quiet and reserved until she gets to know a person...not so with Amy. You would have thought that Tabi sees her everyday to watch her with Amy. She was so excited that her "big sister, best friend" Amy was here! And don't you know that Amy came to "just see her!"
These are some pictures that we snapped of Amy and Tabi together on the 4th of July....unfortunately Amy and her husband left to head home on the 4th, so Amy wasn't there to share in the 4th's fireworks.

Hope you all have a great weekend. Check out other Favorite Friday Fotos over at Hannah's blog, click on the badge above and you will be there!

Favorite Foto Friday #111 "U-Pick"

2010-07-02T16:44:00.007-04:00

Oh my! Two weeks have gone by and I almost missed another Favorite Foto Friday! For the month of July, there are no specific themes so every week is a "U-Pick" week. The pictures that I have chosen are SO appropriate for this theme!
Amy (Tabi's older sister) and her husband are down for a visit. Tabi absolutely adores her older sister. Today we went on a "berry hunt"---actually there was no hunting them, the blueberry bushes were all there and the picking was pretty doggone easy! Tabi had a blast, and there were plenty of berries for all!

Hope you all have a great 4th of July! Be sure to check out other Favorite Friday Fotos over at Hannah's blog. Click on the badge above and it will take you there!

Pizza!

2010-06-19T21:41:00.007-04:00

I've been cooking more lately (I'm not sure why!) and I've started having Tabi help. This is our attempt at pizza starting with a super easy crust made from scratch to sauce and toppings all cooked to a golden brown. It turned out rather yummy if I say so myself!

Favorite Foto Friday #110 "I Love Dad"

2010-06-17T05:42:00.015-04:00

This week, in honor of Father's Day, the Favorite Foto Friday theme is "I Love Dad".
Tabi used to be a Daddy's girl, she'd smile and giggle only for Tim. As time has gone on, she's developed into more of a Mommy's girl. BUT... she still loves her Daddy and is delighted to see him whenever he comes home from work.

Daddy makes a good "playmate",

Beauty shop...

A good Teacher,
Learning to ride the tricycle....

A fashion consultant,
Dressing "alike" for Halloween....

A good alarm clock, and cuddler in the morning.

We love you, honey, Happy Father's Day!

Be sure and check out the other Favorite Foto Friday pictures over at Hannah's blog; click on the badge above and it will get you there.

Favorite Foto Friday # 109 "What WE Love"

2010-06-11T03:13:00.011-04:00

This week our Favorite Friday Foto is suppose to be about US, we who write and post on our blogs and what WE find fun, and love to do! WELL....I'm having a little bit of trouble with this one, I don't take pictures of myself, nor do I talk much about myself. This blog has been mostly devoted to Tabitha, our initial journey to adopt her, and now life as she is growing up...SO this week will be a little bit of that and a little bit of ME.
Things I love, hmmm....well right now I know it's not my job! My job unfortunately occupies a HUGE chunk of my life!
I am not a "young" mom having been born at the end of the baby boomer years, but I am young in the sense that Tabitha is 3 and I've not had children before her. I also like to think of myself as young at heart. My "fun list" is more like a wish list....

Wish I was here.....

I really enjoy the ocean, the beach especially. Don't get me wrong, I don't enjoy "roasting" myself at the beach, I love the beauty of it, the calming sound of the waves, the smell of the sea air.

I also love this....

Tim might be the one blowing the bubbles, but I love bubbles! It's fun to see how the wind picks them up and carries them off, and I LOVE watching Tabitha chase them!

I guess the funnest things in life to me are the simple ones,

Watching the sun come up....

Wading in a fountain....

Most of all just sitting back and enjoying Tabitha! (Need to put that at the top of the list!)

Tabitha's Dance Recital Portrait....

Hope you all have a great weekend, do something FUN! Be sure and check out other Favorite Friday Fotos over at Hannah's blog, click on the badge above and it will get you there.

Favorite Foto Friday # 108 Summer Fun Kick Off--Family Fun!

2010-06-04T06:13:00.006-04:00

OK, I'm cheating a little here! The link up won't just let me type in the blog address, so I'm creating this little spot to link up my past 3 blog entries from our vacation. We had a blast on our vacation, so much so that I didn't want it to end!
SO, here is the link to the whole blog and you can see all 3 entries...here. Yes, I know, cheating, but a whole lot easier! Plus here's a link to a video of Tabi and my "teacup" ride!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2E5d1oBVho
Hope you enjoy your weekend! See what everyone else is doing over at Hannah's blog, click on the badge above. Leave me a comment or two, I always enjoy hearing from yall!

Myrtle Beach: Broadway at the Beach

2010-06-01T21:02:00.008-04:00

We went to Broadway at the Beach this year while on vacation at Myrtle Beach. We figured since we plan on going to Disney in February this would be a good start for Tabitha. She loves the Merry Go Round, but was a little hesitant at first to ride the other things. With a little convincing that it would be fun, she had a blast!

The teacups: I have a cute video, maybe I'll get it uploaded for Favorite Friday Foto!

Vacation Myrtle Beach: Days 3 &4

2010-05-31T20:28:00.010-04:00

If it was left up to Tabitha, we'd spend the entire time on vacation in the pool. We decided to do some things this year on our vacation. We didn't actually hang out much on the beach because there were rip-tide warnings out and Tim just couldn't see the point of being "at the beach" if you couldn't play in the ocean. Tabitha isn't a big fan of the actual ocean either. I'm not sure if it's because the waves knock her down or because the ocean water isn't as warm as she likes it. She does like the sand and did build one "sand castle"----more like a big mound of sand than a castle.
Wednesday we ventured out to the "Gater Adventure" place.

OK, I'll admit, not my favorite things in the world---reptiles that is, but the place was actually pretty neat. They had alligators of varying sizes, some crocadiles and a lot of turtles.

Thursday we went down near Surfside Beach to the Waccatee zoo. It's not like a city zoo but more like a wildlife park. They had some vary neat animals to see, I wasn't too fond of the monkey displays, the cages were WAY too small. But, they had lots of deer, goats, emus and peacocks. The peacocks weren't in cages and I'm not really sure what kept them from flying away. They had bags of food for sale and you were allowed to feed any of the animals. We rented a wagon for Tabitha to ride in and I think that she truly enjoyed it! ME, well let's just say, I don't like bugs, and there were a ton of them! Of course they knew that and kept buzzing around me! Tim found it quite amuzing! Me, not so much!

Baby Herons (look in the tree)

Of course, some of the animals smelled a little as Tabitha said "something stanks"

Vacation: Myrtle Beach, Days 1 & 2

2010-05-29T12:13:00.010-04:00

We went to Myrtle Beach this past week; we are blessed to live only a short (3 hrs.) car ride away from the beach. We were meeting some friends (2 families actually). One of the families drove all the way from Missouri to meet us, the other family lives about 15 miles away from us yet we hardly ever see each other. The family from Missouri have 3 little girls; 1 from Gautemala, and 2 from China. The other family has a little girl and a little boy from Guatemala. 2 of the girls will turn 5 this year and the others will turn 4 toward the end of the year. Tabitha is the youngest being born in January of 2007.
We checked in on Monday at about 1 o'clock, the hotel had our room ready and we were able to check in before the usual 3 o'clock check in time. Tabitha couldn't have been happier because that meant we could go to the pool earlier!

SORRY NO POOL PICTURES THIS YEAR :>((( --I forgot to take the camera down to the pool!

After an afternoon of playing hard in the pool, Tabitha had to take a "power nap" before dinner. She insisted that she had to put on her Dora jammies in order to do so! She had an air mattress/sleeping bag that we brought for her, she was so excited!

Day 2:
We all went to the Aquarium this year, we had gone last year as well, but it was only the 3 of us. This year, EVERYONE went! Do you know how hard it is to get 6 children (4, 3 year olds and 2, 4 year olds) to all look at the camera? Impossible!

Tabi swimming like the fish

Favorite Foto Friday # 107 "U-Pick"

2010-05-28T23:06:00.005-04:00

Yes, I know, my entry for Favorite Foto Friday is late, but we've been gone all week on vacation and just got back today. Remember last week that the theme was "Friends" and I chose not to "play along" and follow the theme? I said that I was sure that I'd have some friend photos coming up really soon because we were going away to the beach to meet up with some friends. I've chose this photo this week from the vacation because it is one of my favorites from our vacation. And...the theme this week is "U-Pick"!
As I said, we met up with some friends this week for a little fun in the sun at Myrtle Beach. We decided to all take in the Aquarium while we were there. This photo is Tabi with their 3 girls. They have adopted 2 girls from China and 1 from Guatemala. We all became friends through our Guatemala experiences and through using the same adoption agency....that is one good thing that came from using the same agency. The other GREAT thing of course is our precious children. SO, here's a preview of our vacation pictures!

Of course be sure to check out other Favorite Foto Friday pictures over at Hannah's blog. Click on the badge above and you'll be there. Have a great weekend, and remember our men and women who are currently serving or have served in the military this Memorial Day weekend! Thank you for your service!

Favorite Foto Friday #106 Dance Recital

2010-05-21T00:00:00.001-04:00

This week I am opting to not use the "theme" for this week, friends. I'll probably use that theme in some upcoming weeks as we are soon heading to the beach to spend some time with friends. Tabitha's dance recital was this past Tuesday. We thought, what a joke, but the girls actually did much better than anticipated! Actually I think that they were so scared by all of the people sitting and watching them that all they could do is watch their teacher and repeat what she was doing---novel concept, huh?
Tabitha has been going every Tuesday evening to dance;it is a combination tap/ballet class. Normally she gets bored about half way through and stops listening and watching her teacher, but during the recital we didn't notice any of that. Here are a few pictures from the evening, hope you enjoy!

The first part was tap

Then came ballet

At the end of the performance, their teacher gave each of the girls a "rose"

Check out other Favorite Friday Fotos over at Hannah's blog; click on the badge above and it will get you there. Have a great weekend!

Favorite Foto Friday # 105 "Laughter and Smiles"

2010-05-14T00:00:00.000-04:00

This week the theme for Favorite Foto Friday is "Laughter and Smiles". I'll never forget a comment made to me from one of my friends when Tabitha first came home. She'd seen the pictures that we'd snapped and e-mailed so excitedly to everyone. She said that Tabi didn't smile much. At the time, that comment worried me; I wondered, is that really true, is she unhappy? BUT I have taken another look at the pictures of Tabitha and realize that Tabitha smiles A LOT! We just didn't always happen to capture the smiles on film. I decided to do a "blast from the past to the current" approach to this week's theme. Hope you enjoy!

One of the first times we saw her cute little smile was during our visit trip to meet Tabitha. Even though this isn't a huge 'open mouth smile' you can see the happiness in her eyes!

This is from our pick up trip

Age 1

Age 2

Now...she's finally mastered the "art" of saying "cheese" for a picture!

Hope you all have a joy filled weekend! Be sure to click the badge above to go over to Hannah's blog and check out all of the other's Favorite Friday Fotos!

Favorite Foto Friday #104 "Word to Your Mother"

2010-05-07T00:01:00.000-04:00

It's Favorite Foto Friday time. This week we are honoring mothers in recognition of Mother's Day on Sunday. Is it me, or does Mother's Day seem earlier this year?
I think of this poem that I read many times growing up, but never fully understood it until I became a mother.

Mother
M. is for the many times you held me.
O is for the open mind you have
T is for the many things you taught me
H is for your heart of gold you have
E is for everything you do fo me
R is for the relationship we have
Put them all together and it spells mother the dearest name to me.

This picture is from May 2007, not on Mother's Day, but very near Mother's Day. We had gone to Guatemala to visit/meet Tabitha. Looking at this photo brings back a flood of memories. I can remember sitting in the restuarant and tears running down my face. I was completely, totally in love with this precious little baby who was asleep on my chest! I could have stayed in that moment forever! I still love it when she hugs me and puts her head on my chest!

Of course, I want to honor my mother as well; this is a picture of my mother holding me. She says I was about 2 months old in this picture---boy is that picture old!

And Mom now....

My Mom and my daughter

Hope you have a great weekend. Check out Hannah's blog and see what other's have to say about Mothers! Click on the badge above and it will get you there!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!

Favorite Foto Friday #103 "U-Pick"

2010-04-30T05:48:00.008-04:00

The end of the month is already here! How did that happen? So, our theme for Favorite Friday Foto is "U-Pick", our favorite from the month.

I had a hard time this month. First of all, I really in the scope of things, didn't take that many photos; well, I took a "volume" of pictures, but not many different occasions. Second, I always have trouble picking out just one photo! SO I DIDN'T! Yes, I know, what's new?

I still had a couple of black and whites from last week's theme that I didn't publish. I couldn't decide which I liked best, you be the judge!

This last picture really captures the "spirit" of Tabitha----goofy!

Check out other "favorites" over at Hannah's. Just click on the badge above and you'll get there! Heck, why don't you join us and add your post! Have a great weekend! Don't forget, tomorrow is Derby Day!

Favorite Foto Friday # 102 "Drama for Your Mama---black and white"

2010-04-23T00:00:00.001-04:00

This week the title of the theme for Favorite Foto Friday is "Drama for your Mama", our photos are suppose to be black and white. Black and white pictures are always rather dramatic to me, I'm not very good at it though! Fortunately I have a really good specimen to photograph; her cuteness makes up for my lack of photographic skills!

Check out the other favorite Friday photos click on the badge above and go on over to Hannah's blog. Have a great weekend!

Favorite Foto Friday # 101 "In Full Bloom"

2010-04-16T02:46:00.007-04:00

This week the theme for Favorite Friday Foto is "In Full Bloom". The trees have pretty much past their peak around here, but the azaleas have begun to burst into bloom, mine unfortunately have not.

Magnolia tree from 3 weeks ago

Note the tree in the background in full bloom, this was from 3 weeks ago

This from last Easter in front of the azalea bush, look how much shorter Tabi's hair was! It hadn't been cut either. I can't believe how much she's matured since last year!

The Cross "In Full Bloom" this year

Check out other favorite Friday fotos over at Hannah's blog, just click on the badge above!
Have a great weekend!

Favorite Foto Friday #100 "Easter Memories"**edited to explain Flowering of the Cross

2010-04-09T00:00:00.003-04:00

This is my 100th Favorite Foto Friday post! The theme that Hannah has chosen for this week is "Easter Memories". Last weekend was Easter, it was a beautiful weekend weather wise except for the "yellow clouds" (pine pollen) that were drifting around. Saturday we went to the church of one of my co-workers. They were having their annual egg hunt. This egg hunt was huge! They had over 30,000 eggs for the kids to "hunt"-- pick up is more like it! They also had door prize give aways for those families that had registered, and they had free lunches! Tabi had a great time. I wish that we'd been able to get more pictures of it, but the camera battery decided to "expire" just as the hunt began.

Later Saturday afternoon, we colored Easter eggs, Tabi seemed to get into it a little more than last year. She wanted to do it all, but Mommy insisted upon helping!

Sunday we went to church for the flowering of the cross,(The flowering of the cross has been traced back to the 6th century. It is an especially striking and beautiful way to symbolize the new life that emerges from the death on Good Friday. Traditionally before the Easter Sunday service, the cross is covered with real flowers and the top draped in white. The entire cross is covered with flowers and is placed prominently at the front of the church to symbolize the new life in our risen Lord to all the worshippers present on Easter Sunday morning. The contrast between the starkly bare cross that worshippers have seen for 40 days and the living flower cross of Easter Sunday dramatically and visually represents the new life that we are celebrating after witnessing the very instrument of death and endings transformed by Christ's rising) then had a bit of breakfast in the church fellowship hall, and then attended Easter services. Tabi was not very cooperative with the pictures while we were at church, but did finally take a few decent ones at home.

After her nap we had our own Easter egg hunt in the front yard. It was a very busy weekend!

Be sure and check out other Favorite Foto Friday photos over at Hannah's blog, just click on the badge. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Favorite Foto Friday #99 Funny Faces

2010-04-02T00:00:00.001-04:00

This week the theme over at Hannah's blog for Favorite Foto Friday is "Funny Faces". I had good intentions of taking lots of new photos this week, but must admit I haven't taken a single one! Partially because I've been so busy at work lately that I've been bringing home tons of paper work to do at home. Partially because Tabi is sick again with strep throat so she hasn't felt like taking any pictures, and partially because I just haven't though about it! Sad, isn't it?
I do have a couple of photos though that just could fit this catagory.

This wasn't planned or anything, but Tabi has that "oh my!" look on her face.

Her "cheesy" face

Be sure and check out other Favorite Foto Friday photos over at Hannah's blog. Click on the badge above and it will get you there.
Have a great weekend, Happy Easter to all!

Favorite Foto Friday #98 "U-Pick"

2010-03-26T00:00:00.000-04:00

This is the last Favorite Foto Friday of the month so it is "U-Pick" time. This week we have had some beautiful weather---finally! Tabi got a new swing set to celebrate spring. This picture is my favorite photo for this month. I hope that you enjoy it! Stop over at Hannah's blog to check out other Friday favorites, just click on the badge. Have a great weekend!

Favorite Foto Friday # 97 "Spring"

2010-03-19T19:31:00.005-04:00

I'm a little late getting this Favorite Foto Friday entry posted; this week has been jam-packed for me at my job! I figure better late than never! The theme this week is "Spring Ahead". Tomorrow is the first official day of spring. South Carolina is usually warmer and ahead of the "official" first day of spring,but this year we've had an unusually cold winter for South Carolina. Today was a great day though, the kind that makes me say, I'm glad we moved down here from Illinois. It was in the mid 70's here today, tomorrow it's suppose to be up to 80, yeah!

Nothing says spring to me more than daffodils blooming.

Tabi is trying to learn to ride a tricycle; what better way can one spend a nice spring day?

Hope that you have a great weekend! Check out other Favorite Friday Fotos at Hannah's blog, just click on the badge above.

Favorite Foto Friday #96 "Is there a Doctor in the house?"

2010-03-12T00:01:00.001-05:00

This week the theme for Favorite Foto Friday is "Green/St. Patty's Day". I'm not sticking to that theme this week, but am posting my favorite photos from this week. Besides, we haven't done any "green" type of pictures yet this year. Hopefully I'll convince Tabi that she needs to wear green on Wednesday. Tabi thinks that there are only 2 colors: pink and purple! She does however have several cute green outfits, we're trying to buy her less pink outfits. She isn't buying into it though, and keeps wearing her same favorites!

Tabi has always liked playing with my nurse's stethascope. She just didn't understand why Mommy kept telling her, "it's not a toy". So, when I saw this little medical kit at Walgreen's last week, I thought that it would be perfect for Tabi. You be the judge if it was!

Tabi now calls herself: Doctor princess superhero ballerina Tabitha!

Stop over at Hannah's blog to see other Favorite Friday photos, just click on the badge above and it will get you there.
Hope you all have a good weekend!

Favorite Foto Friday #95 "We Are Family"

2010-03-05T00:01:00.000-05:00

This week the theme for Favorite Foto Friday is "We are Family". I really had to dig for pictures for this theme! The truth is while I have lots of pictures of Tabi, I don't really have that many of us all together! Although our family is quite small: Tim, Tabi, my Mom, me and the dogs, it is next to impossible to find a picture of all of us together....someone is always out of the shot taking the picture! Guess we should start using the tripod and the timer picture more often!
Some of these I have posted previously, but love them so much they are worth repeating!

This is from our visit trip, first pictures with Tabi

Another from our visit trip

Embassy Day, December 3, 2007

This is my Mom, me and Tabi on her first Easter home. It's not a great shot of me or Tabi, but a pretty decent one of Mom.

Tabi and her "siblings"

See more photos of family at Hannah's blog. Click on the badge above and it will get you there! Have a great weekend!

Favorite Foto Friday #94 "Our Pick"

2010-02-26T00:01:00.000-05:00

It's the last Favorite Foto Friday of the month and we are suppose to pick our favorite photo from the month. I, of course, could not pick just one! So, there are a couple of them. These are a couple more shots of Tabi during dance class. The first of the photos is a "save" using some of the editing program available on the computer; I'm not very good at it, but am trying to learn. The original was very dark and shadowy. The other photo isn't the best quality, but I love her smile.
Hope you enjoy them and check out all of the other Favorite Friday photos on Hannah's blog. Click on the badge and it will take you there. Have a great weekend!

Favorite Foto Friday #93 "A Day in the Life"

2010-02-19T00:01:00.000-05:00

This week the theme for Favorite Foto Friday is "A Day in the Life". Being a product of the 60's and 70's, the first thing that popped into my head was the Beatles' song, but I don't think that is exactly what Hannah was shooting for! So, I'm posting some lovely pictures of little Miss Tabi on a not so typical day in South Carolina.
It snowed in South Carolina last Friday, not the few little flakes that I've become accustomed to people freaking out over here in South Carolina. You know people in the south all rush to the store buy up all of the eggs, milk and bread when they predict snow or ice.... NO, it really snowed; it snowed 7 inches! We haven't had that much snow in 20 or 30 years here! I wish that I had more of the pictures that Tim took the morning after, but I must confess that I forgot to put the memory stick back into the camera after downloading these pictures from Friday night. SO....please forgive my error and enjoy these few that I shot Friday after the snow first started accumulating.

The temperature predicted for today is suppose to be in the 60's, go figure! Hope you enjoyed our pictures! To see other favorite Friday photos, check out Hannah's blog by clicking on the badge above. Have a great weekend!

Favorite Foto Friday #92 "Love Is..."

2010-02-12T06:02:00.011-05:00

This week's Favorite Foto Friday theme is: "Love Is..." Love is mainly my family to me, but choosing photos that exemplify that is difficult for me; I have so many to choose from!
The first photo is one of my loving husband and me on the day that we got married. We got engaged 9 years ago around this time of year. It will be 9 years ago we were married this August! I love him more and more each day!

My mother is also part of the "love is..." equation. My mother and I have always been close. She lives with us now since we moved to South Carolina. She shows me love each and every day, but one gesture that she did for me that really eximplified love. It was to cash in her IRA's to help us pay for the cost of Tabitha's adoption; to me, that was above and beyond love!

And of course, Tabitha is love....I love everything about her...well maybe not so much that smart mouthing that she has started! :o)

To see other favorite Friday photos, click on the badge above and check out the list on Hannah's blog.

Hope you all have a great weekend! We're suppose to get snow---oh no, not here in South Carolina!

Favorite Foto Friday #91

2010-02-05T06:05:00.008-05:00

The theme this week is suppose to be "Kiss Kiss". However, I'm not using that theme this week. Tabi isn't what I'd call a "kissy" girl. She loves to hug, but hasn't been a big fan of many kisses unless you are talking about chocolate kisses! She is however asking me now to kiss her good-bye when I drop her off at daycare in the mornings.
Tabitha started dance classes at the local park district this past Tuesday. It is a combination tap/ballet class. They have a half hour of tap and then a half hour of ballet. She was so excited to be going to dance classes that she's talked about it non stop since buying the leotard and tights! We worried that she wouldn't pay attention to what her teacher was teaching, she kept turning around looking at us or the other girls during the first part of the class. It was kind of funny actually. We got to the dance studio a little early and Tabi loved the noise that her tap shoes made on the floor; all she wanted to do was gallop around and make noise. Well the teacher got there, had the girls get on their "marks" (little spots of tap on the floor), and Tabi just stood there! Her teacher said that she did really well for a 3 year old in her first dance class. She said that staying on your "mark" is very important!

Pre class:

Tap portion:

First position, ballet:

Check out other favorite Friday photos by clicking on the badge above. Have a great weekend!

Favorite Foto Friday #90 "U-Pick"

2010-01-29T05:55:00.011-05:00

The theme for this week's Favorite Foto Friday is "U-Pick", our favorite photo from January. I always have problems with this theme, because quite frankly, I have A LOT of favorites! I of course couldn't pick just one; I have a subtitle with this post:

"The Art of Eating a Biscuit"!

Making progress; a hole in the center

And there you have it, how to eat a biscuit, Tabi style!
Be sure and check out the other Friday Favorites by clicking on the badge above and going over to Hannah's blog!
Hope you all have a great weekend.

Favorite Foto Friday #89 "Favorite Animals"

2010-01-22T06:44:00.006-05:00

This week the theme for Favorite Foto Friday is "Favorite Animals". Tabi loves animals, especially our three little dogs. The dogs were the children before Tabitha came along and they think that they are human sometimes. Tabi goes along with this too, she sometimes calls them her "brothers and sisters"! I know that they all are spoiled!
The first photo I actually forgot that I had; it would have worked well with the grandparents theme a couple of weeks ago! Tabi loves to watch cartoons while sitting on her Granny's bed. The dogs always want the same attention that Tabi gets, so they all were up on Granny's bed!

The second photo is of Tabi and our little Jack Russell, Sherman. He is Tabi's favorite, look how he snuggles up next to her on her little blanket!

Hope you all enjoy the pictures! If you'd like to see other Favorite Foto Friday pictures, click on the badge above and check out Hannah's blog.
Have a great weekend!

Guess who's three??!!

2010-01-15T20:38:00.013-05:00

Today is Tabitha's third birthday. It is hard to believe that she is already that old. Her attitude and sassy little mouth give her age away though. Tonight we went to Olive Garden for dinner it's usually one of Tabi's favorite--that girl can put away some spaghetti! Well, she was in one of her "funks" not liking anything. She kept saying "I do not want to go to the Olive Garden!" I'm not sure why she was saying this because I know she loves spaghetti. She was listing all different kinds of food she wanted and I asked, "what about spaghetti?" Of course she said, YES! Spaghetti's! So we went to Olive Garden. We then came home to have cake and presents. She almost didn't have those tonight; she came home crawled up on her bed and said, "pull my covers up and turn off the light, I'm tired". I couldn't believe she was going to pass on cake and presents. When Daddy said that he'd just send them back she changed her mind. See, she definitely is 3!

She wanted a "Hello Kitty" cake this year...

Blowing out candles...

Playing with the cake decorations...

Opening presents...

I think that she was happy that she didn't just go to bed! All in all it was a nice birthday celebration. Happy Birthday my little princess!

Favorite Foto Friday #88 "Close Up"

2010-01-15T00:00:00.002-05:00

It is Favorite Friday Foto time! The theme this week is "Close Up". I have quite a few "close ups" of Tabitha, choosing which ones to post is the hard part. I have narrowed it down to a few! Click on the badge above to check out other Favorite Friday photos.

Today is my little girl's 3rd birthday! Come back tomorrow for pictures of the celebration! Until then, have a great day!

Favorite Foto Friday #88 Grandparents

2010-01-08T00:01:00.000-05:00

This week the theme for Favorite Foto Friday is "Grandparents". You'd think that since my mother lives with us, we'd have plenty of pictures of Tabi and Granny together, but I don't!
I guess I'd better get on the ball! I do have a couple, although they are not very recent. None the less they are cute!

If you would like to see other favorite foto Friday posts with other's cute pictures, click on the badge above and check out Hannah's blog!
Have a great weekend!

Favorite Foto Friday #87 "Favorite Holiday Picture"

2010-01-01T00:01:00.001-05:00

This week Favorite Foto Friday happens to fall on New Year's Day, so Happy New Year! The theme for this week is "Favorite Holiday Picture". I of course, couldn't choose just one! So I put together this little scrapbook of photos from Christmas. Hope that you enjoy them!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

To see other Favorite Friday Fotos, click on the badge above and check them out! Again, Happy New Year!!!!!!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T21:23:00.005-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone! There's obviously no Favorite Foto Friday this week. We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. Here's a few pictures from today.

Favorite Foto Friday #86 Christmas Card Outtakes

2009-12-18T05:58:00.006-05:00

This week's Favorite Foto Friday theme is "Christmas Card Outtakes". We don't do a photo for a Christmas Card per se. I do however send pictures of Tabitha to everyone at Christmas time. We usually go to the photo studio and have one made, but this year time got away from me and we didn't get there. SO, I had to attempt to take some at home. So, I have outtakes, lots of them! But, I'm not going to post all of them, only the best!

I actually considered making this one into a card.....I forget what we asked her to do, but she was shouting back an answer here.....

Ok, we changed clothes, and location (we have 5 Christmas trees)....

She's starting to get tired of this, the meltdown begins....

Alright, meltdown finished, yet another dress....

These are only a FEW of my outtakes! We did end up with a few good pictures in the end, but it certainly wasn't easy!

Hope you have enjoyed our Favorite Foto Friday photos, if you'd like to see more, click on the badge above and check out Hannah's blog! Have a great weekend!

Favorite Foto Friday #85 "Kids making and baking for Christmas"

2009-12-11T00:01:00.000-05:00

This week the theme for Favorite Foto Friday is "kids making and baking for Christmas". Well, I sort of have a picture for this theme, except it isn't of Christmas things, it was from Thanksgiving. You see, we haven't started our Christmas baking and making. Heck, I must confess, I don't even have all of my Christmas cards done yet!
But....it is a picture of Tabi cooking.(Believe it or not, I'm only posting 1 photo this week!) I had her "making/baking" pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving. I was only going to do one, but she had so much fun mixing everything and helping Mommy, when we finished the first pie, she said "I do it again!" SO, how could I refuse a request like that?
If you'd like to see other Favorite Foto Friday pictures, click on the badge above and check out Hannah's blog. Have a great weekend!

Favorite Foto Friday #84 "Holiday Traditions"

2009-12-04T00:00:00.003-05:00

This week the theme for Favorite Foto Friday is "Holiday Traditions". Everyone who knows us, knows that Christmas is really big for us. I gave you a preview of that last week. My husband turns our house and yard into the Griswald's at Christmas! Plain and simple, "it is tradition!" So this week, I am sharing our outdoor decorations with you. Hope that you enjoy them!

Of course I couldn't go a week without posting a picture of Tabi!

To see other Favorite Foto Friday pictures click on the badge above and check out Hannah's blog! Have a great weekend!

Favorite Foto Friday #83 "No Faces"

2009-11-27T00:01:00.003-05:00

This week the theme for Favorite Foto Friday is "No Faces". What? no cute little views of darling little people??? I do have photos though that fit this theme perfectly!
It is the day after Thanksgiving, hard to believe isn't it? Where does time go??? Thanksgiving Day actually marks the beginning of our Christmas light display. So without further ado, here are my Favorite Fotos for this Friday!

Wow! Look at all of those ornaments!

Tabi helping Daddy decorate one of the Christmas trees, yes I said one of....

A preview of this year's outdoor decorations!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, have a great weekend! To see more Favorite Foto Friday photos, click on the badge above and check out Hannah's blog!

Favorite Foto Friday #82 "Oh Give Thanks"

2009-11-20T00:01:00.000-05:00

The theme for this week's Favorite Foto Friday is "Oh Give Thanks" in honor of the upcoming holiday, Thanksgiving. I have been taking part of a "thankful" period the past couple of weeks on Facebook, where we post each day something that we are thankful for. There are SO many things that I am thankful for. I am thankful for a loving patient husband. I am thankful for my mother who has given to me and helps me more than I can ever thank her for. I am most certainly thankful for this wonderful little girl who despite her 'almost 3 years old' attitude, sassy mouth, and stubborness can make me melt in a heartbeat. I am thankful I live in a country that allows me to live in freedom. I am most thankful for my Lord and Savior, Jesus; he paid the price for all of my sins, in order that I may have eternal life.

I don't really have pictures to go with all of the things that I've listed, so I'll share some special pictures of our cute little Tabitha.

To see more Favorite Foto Friday photos, check out Hannah's blog by clicking on the badge above.
Have a great weekend, and a Happy Thanksgiving!

Forever Family Day Celebration

2009-11-15T07:27:00.000-05:00

Friday was the anniversary of Tabitha's Forever Family Day. I decided to get a small cake and found this really cute little doggie cake. Tabitha seemed to enjoy it!

Favorite Foto Friday # 81 Beautiful Gifts/ Gotcha Day!

2009-11-13T00:01:00.002-05:00

This week the theme for Favorite Foto Friday is "Beautiful Gifts". What I had chosen to post for this week fits into that theme perfectly! Today is the 2nd anniversary of Tabitha's "Gotcha" or Forever Family Day. On November 13, 2007 we flew to Guatemala City to wait for "pink". It had been a wait that seemed like forever at the time, but in all actuality, was about 9 1/2 months, the average wait at that time. Tabitha turned 10 months of age on the 15th. We ended up spending 3 weeks in Guatemala; some were wonderfully pleasant experiences like meeting and making new friends like Andrea, Scott & Anna and Sharon, Bill & Olivia,touring Antigua and Guatemala City, some not---we all ended up with rotovirus!
I'll never forget this day. Here are some of the pictures from the initial moments of Tabitha's foster mom bringing her to us and that evening.
Tabitha is indeed a "beautiful gift" from God!

Foster Mom arriving with Tabitha

Mom being "briefed" as to Tabi's schedule, etc.

Tabi getting a little tearful, realizing Foster Mom was leaving

Later that evening, Tabi "chewing" on a piece of pizza crust!

The next day, all smiles!

Our "Beautiful Gift" from God!

If you would like to see other "beautiful gifts" check things out on Hannah's blog by clicking the badge above.

Have a great weekend!

Afternoon at the playground

2009-11-11T13:30:00.003-05:00

Since the weather has been kind of dreary the last couple of days, I wanted to share some sunshine. These are some pictures from an outing to the playground earlier this week (before the rain started). We had a really nice time, the temperature was around 70 and it was a bright sunny day. Hope that you enjoy them!

Favorite Foto Friday #80 "Black & White Beauty"

2009-11-06T00:01:00.001-05:00

This week's theme for Favorite Foto Friday is "Black and White Beauty". These pictures are from this summer, but they fit the topic and I love them! Hope you love them too! For more Black and White beauties, click on the badge above and check out Hannah's blog! Have a great weekend!

Halloween Costumes

2009-10-31T22:33:00.004-04:00

Tabitha was dressed up as an angel this year for her Halloween party at daycare. Note that I said "dressed up as...." she was far from the "little angel" Friday! She does look rather angelic in the first pose, it was a picture taken on Thursday as a "preview". Friday morning she did not want to cooperate with ANY picture taking....so, I only got 1 picture of her when I dropped her off at daycare, and she wouldn't look at me for the picture. She said she wanted Granny and I to leave. So, we did.
Saturday, the actual Halloween, she decided that she wanted to dress in her Chicago Bears cheerleader outfit. I'm kind of glad, because, well....the shirt has snaps in the crotch so she'll never be able to wear it to daycare (they don't want the kids to wear "snap" shirts so that they can go to the bathroom more easily; can't say that I blame them), it is a really cute outfit, and I hate buying her things that she doesn't get to wear. We bought it last year when we went to visit family and friends in Chicago. Everyone who saw her of course had to say "Da Bears...." as if she really understood what that was about! She wanted to wear it because it was "like Daddy's shirt". Here are a few pictures, hope you enjoy them! Happy Halloween everyone!

Favorite Foto Friday #79 "Spooky"

2009-10-30T00:01:00.000-04:00

This week's theme for Favorite Foto Friday is appropriately "spooky". I'm not sure how spooky this is going to be considering Tabitha is only 2 and easily scared. I'm going to share some of this year's photos for Halloween. Of course, there are a TON of pictures, I can never choose just one! (There are even more posted on my Facebook!)

A picture of Tabi actually smiling! She has her "spooky" shirt on

Pulling out the "innerds"

What, Dad, can't you see I'm busy!

Pulling out seeds, one at a time!

The face for this year

The final product

A preview of this year's costume: my little angel!

To see more "Spooky" pictures, click on the badge above.
Happy Halloween everyone!

Favorite Foto Friday #78 "Adventure"

2009-10-23T00:01:00.002-04:00

This week the theme for Favorite Foto Friday is "adventure". I had to think awhile about this one. Since I haven't exactly been Ms. photographer lately, I knew that I had to take some new pictures--- I made myself get out the camera. Sometimes I wish I could be like a fly on the wall and just sit and watch Tabitha. She has brought such joy to our family; yes she's in the "meltdown" stage of life, but all in all she brings a great deal of joy to my life. I sat and watched her the other night. She brought such a smile to my face. All of life to her seems to be an "adventure".

Playing with her puppet

Hello, Santy Clause...

Hmmm.....who knows?

To see other Favorite Foto Friday pictures, check out Hannah's blog by clicking on the badge above.

Have a great weekend!

Favorite Foto Friday #77 "Orange"

2009-10-16T07:30:00.007-04:00

This week the theme for Favorite Foto Friday is "orange". I must confess that I haven't taken a single photo this week. I had surgery on Monday and didn't get home from the hospital until Wednesday and well...., I haven't quite been in the photo taking mood. The only mood I've been in quite frankly, is the "I need more pain medicine mood...."
I did however, find a picture to go with this week's theme. This picture was taken last year around Halloween time. As you can see, Tabi was not very happy when the picture was taken. I'm not sure what this particular meltdown was about, but she was having one none the less! To be honest, it doesn't take much (at least these days) to cause Tabitha to "melt down". I'm sure it is just a phase and she'll outgrow it, but it's not one of my favorite phases. She's such a sweet and loving little girl most of the time, but if you dare suggest she do something that she didn't come up with first or tell her "no" to something she does want to do, you can bet that a scene like the one captured in this photo will happen.

If you'd like to see other Favorite Foto Friday pictures check out Hannah's blog here. or by clicking on the badge above! Thanks, Hannah for hosting!

Favorite Foto Friday #76 "Restless Sleeper"

2009-10-09T00:01:00.000-04:00

You may remember a few months ago we had to take Tabi's crib back to Target because it had been recalled and we got her a "big girl" bed. I had always had suspicions that she was a restless sleeper, because of the few times that I've tried to let her nap on my bed with me, she would kick me a half a dozen times or so. Well, here is it is documented in pictures.

Tabi at the beginning of the night

Then Tabi as I find her in the morning

I'm glad that she has her own "big girl" bed!

We have a new hostess for Favorite Foto Friday! It is Hannah and you can check out other's Favorite Foto Friday posts here. Have a great weekend!

Favorite Foto Friday #76

2009-10-02T00:01:00.000-04:00

Can you believe that it is already October??? Where does the time disappear to? There is still no specific theme for Favorite Foto Friday. I didn't really get out and take many pictures this week, but I did get a few good ones on Monday evening. Tabi was out playing and "helping" Daddy in the yard. I decided it was a good opportunity to snap a few cute ones. These are a couple of my favorites.
Sadly this will be the last time that Sarah will be hosting Favorite Foto Friday. She's going to be taking her blog private. I will certainly miss her being the "hostess", but understand fully her need to only share with those she feels close to. We will have a brand new hostess next Friday. So check out Sarah's blog here, one last time! Have a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-09-30T06:23:00.001-04:00

Favorite Foto Friday #75 "Play Hut"

2009-09-25T00:01:00.002-04:00

It's Friday again and time for Favorite Foto Friday. As far as I know the theme is open. You all have heard me talk in the past about my love of garage/yard sales. Well, this is another find, Tabitha's "Play Hut" I think I paid all of a $1 for it!
I couldn't figure out where Tabitha was the other evening, she was being oh so quiet so I automatically assumed that she was doing something that she shouldn't be. I was pleasantly surprised to find her in her "play hut" playing. She doesn't seem to mind that most of her toys are yard sale finds! Look at her, she even had the doors shut; guess she likes her "privacy"!
If you want to see more Favorite Fotos for Friday, check out Sarah's blog here.

It's Football Time!

2009-09-22T21:23:00.002-04:00

This picture is a repeat, but I couldn't resist sharing it again! It's that time of year, schools are back in session and football season is underway. This is Tabitha in her Clemson cheerleader outfit. Neither Tim or I went to Clemson, but with any luck and hard work, we hope that Tabitha will. Go Tigers! They won on Saturday by the way!

Favorite Foto Friday #74

2009-09-18T00:01:00.002-04:00

It's Friday again already! Where does time go? I'm not sure what to title this week's blog, so I want you all to leave me a comment with your suggestions! There is really no theme that I know of, so I'm open to all suggestions for a title!
These are a couple more pictures from the Sunday morning photo shoot that Daddy did a couple of weeks ago. I posted one for my Wonderful Wednesday post; I think they turned out pretty good and the last one really shows Tabitha's happy being. SO what should I call this post? I'm looking forward to your suggestions!
Please stop by Sarah's blog here and see other Favorite Foto Friday entries.

Have a great weekend!

Wonderful Wednesday

2009-09-16T06:55:00.002-04:00

I've been playing with the photo edit program again, I'm not very good at it, but I am trying. This is a photo taken of Tabitha a couple of weeks ago. I loved how the sun was glissening in her hair so I tried to enhance the photo to bring that quality out. Hope you enjoy it!

FFF #73 Backpacks

2009-09-11T00:01:00.000-04:00

This week the theme for Favorite Friday Foto is "backpacks". Tabitha doesn't go to "school" as in elementary, middle, or high school yet, but she does go to a daycare that has a Montessori program starting at age 2, so she doesn't have a "backpack" in the sense that it is used for books. BUT, she does have a backpack or "packkak" as she calls it. She watches Dora pretty regularly so when the Dora backpack appeared at the stores, she of course, had to have one. She uses her backpack to put various little toys into. Here is a picture of Tabitha "posing" with her backpack.

If you would like to see more Favorite Friday Fotos, check out ones listed on Sarah's blog here.
Have a great weekend!

FFF #72 "Friends"

2009-09-04T00:01:00.001-04:00

This week the theme for Favorite Friday Foto is "friends". Tabi's viewpoint of friends and my viewpoint of a friend is probably a little different. She, most of the time, considers her toys her friends. We did however, get to spend a week with some friends at the beach at the end of May. It was great for us because it was time with adults and they also have 2 little girls that are about Tabitha's age. We all had a great time! Tabitha still talks about them! She wants to go visit them again! Unfortunately, they live in Missouri and we are in South Carolina so it will be a while. Here are some photos of Tabi with varying friend. I couldn't decide which pictures that I liked best so I'm posting a variety. They go from when Tabitha was very tiny until this summer. Hope you enjoy them!

The very first friend Tabi made on our visit trip to Guatemala

At the zoo with some other Guate tot friends

On vacation with friends from Missouri

And her very "bestest friend", Ralph

Check out more favorite Friday fotos on Sarah's blog, here.

FFF #71 "Playtime with Dad"

2009-08-28T00:01:00.003-04:00

Tabitha used to be a Daddy's girl when she first came home. Now she's mostly a Mommy's girl, but she loves her Daddy to play with her. Here she is hanging out, and climbing on, and sitting on.....you get the idea....with Dad. So this week we have chosen the theme for Favorite Friday Foto as "playtime with Dad".

Be sure to go over to Sarah's blog here to see what others have done for Favorite Friday Foto!

F.F.F. "Playhouse Fun"

2009-08-21T00:01:00.002-04:00

I am so happy that Favorite Friday Foto is back! Yay!!!! There's no specific theme for the week, we're suppose to choose our own. Our theme is "Playhouse Fun".
Tim and I "happened" upon a Step 2 playhouse at a yard sale not too long ago. I say "happened" because we hadn't originally set out to go to a yard sale, we were on our way to Home Depot to get a chain saw (a storm blew down one of our pine trees) and drove past this yard sale. Tim said, "you want to stop?" and I'm like, "sure, why not", (I love a good sale!) so we stopped---I'd noticed that they had a ton of kids things sitting out. Usually we get to a yard sale and all of the "good stuff" has already been sold. Well, there was this playhouse sitting on a trailer, and I happened to ask the girl running the sale if it was for sale; I actually thought it had been sold and it was being taken somewhere but figured hey, why not ask. I couldn't believe it when she said, yes, it was for sale! These playhouses sell for $160 new and the new ones don't have the front porch like this one does. I got it for a really good price (less than half of the original price). It's like new and Tabi loves it! Funny thing, she keeps telling everyone that Santa Claus brought her playhouse!

If you want to see other Favorite Friday Fotos, go over to Sarah's blog here, to check them out! Have a great weekend!

Art Show

2009-08-20T20:12:00.014-04:00

I can't believe that summer is almost over! Today was the first day of school in our school district. It was weird seeing the kids standing out on the corner waiting for the bus. It seems like it was yesterday when summer vacation started! Tabi's school doesn't start until next week. Yes, I said school. We now, actually since June, have her in a "daycare" that is a Montessori school. We thought that it would be great for her and enable her to learn more than she might in a regular daycare...mind you there is nothing wrong with regular daycare....we just thought this would be good for her. She absolutely loves it! This summer however, they didn't do Montessori, they had "summer activities" such as water play two days a week, treats (snacks) from the ice cream truck once a week, and other fun things. They also did a lot of "art projects" too and had an "Art Show" at the end of last week! Here is some of Tabitha's "art".

Wacky Wednesday

2009-08-12T21:39:00.001-04:00

This time it is Tim being wacky----not Tabitha! Oh well!

F.F.F. "Shower"

2009-07-31T00:01:00.003-04:00

Well, it's the last day of July, I can't believe how fast summer is flying by! It's not just summer that is flying by...my little girl is growing and maturing more and more each day. We are nearly potty trained; she still has an occasional accident, but really is doing great. Maybe it's the M & M rewards she's been getting! I'm telling you, this girl is a true chocoholic! She fits right in to this family!
Her latest "big girl" activity is taking a shower. She has decided that she no longer wants to take a bath, she takes a shower. Mind you, she usually wants Mommy to take a shower too, so I've been getting ready for bed a little earlier. I used to always take my shower in the morning, sort of as a way to wake me up. Now, I sleep a little later, because I have extra time in the morning. I'm kind of liking this extra little bit of sleep!
Still no specific theme for Favorite Friday Foto, but I want to continue to do it, it "makes" me update this blog at least weekly. So....here's a couple of pictures of Tabitha and "her" shower! Hope that you enjoy them.

Favorite Friday Foto(s)---Party!

2009-07-24T21:44:00.007-04:00

I'm a little late getting this posted, but it is still Friday, so it's alright. There is no particular theme for this week, so I'm just posting some pictures from the past week. We went to a barbecue last weekend and took Tabitha with us. It was a "get together" of our Sunday School class. This is the first time that we've taken Tabitha to one of these, usually she stays home with "ganny-gamma", but she was invited and was very excited when we told her that she could come with us. She was amazingly very well behaved, only one small "episode" --when I washed off brownies from her face (how dare I!). Here are a few pictures from the occasion. Hope that you enjoy them!

The little dog's name is Snowflake. Tabitha spent a great deal of time on the floor with her, it was someone "her" size! Tabi loved giving her attention and I think that Snowflake liked it too!
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Tabitha hasn't quite mastered drinking from the 'hard' type sippy cups, so she tends to just bite on the mouth piece.

Tim took all of the pictures that evening. I just love the angle from which he took this picture.

Have a great weekend!

Is it FFF?

2009-07-15T15:26:00.012-04:00

Sarah is taking a break this month from blogging, so it is up to each of us to either keep up the tradition of Favorite Friday Foto, or let it fall to the way side. I've loved being a part of favorite Friday foto bloggers and am going to miss someone "being the ring-leader". It has been fun clicking the links to other people's blogs and seeing what has been going on in their lives. Over the past few months though, I've noticed fewer and fewer blogs being part of the group. Maybe it's because a lot of people have been on Facebook posting and not keeping up their blogs. Many of the "FFF" bloggers are people who have adopted children, some are not; we all "shared" a part of our lives, be it with pictures or words. I've elected to keep up the tradition even if I don't have a "Mr. McLinky" for people to add their links.....maybe I would if I could ever figure it out! If you'd like to continue being a part of the group, feel free to leave me a comment and perhaps I can figure something out! Happy blogging everyone!

F.F.F. Water Fun!

Tabitha really loves the water. We went from having a small wading to pool to now a little bigger pool. Mind you, it's no olympic sized pool---it's maybe 30 inches deep---but Tabitha absolutely loves it! I've been playing a little with the photo editing program on the computer, I hope you enjoy the pictures!

How did this happen.....?

2009-07-12T07:26:00.004-04:00

Yesterday we had to take Tabitha's crib down and return it to T----t because it had been recalled. I bought this crib in November of 2006, way before Tabitha was home; it was actually before she was even born! I remember getting it, setting it up and taking a picture for our dossier. We got the full price of the crib back, extra perhaps, because I remember getting it on sale.

Yesterday she napped on it, mind you it took her a LONG time to finally fall asleep because there was so much activity in the house. But, she slept all night, didn't cry, and didn't try to crawl out. We're so proud of her......but Mommy's a little sad. How did this happen? My little girl is out of a crib! (Yes, she's in there amongst the toys!)